Oh Crap! I didn't really mean to get hired! I was just starting to get into my daily routine - get Larry off to work, put on a load of laundry, get back into bed, hang out laundry, grocery store to pick up anything I might need for dinner, plus my regular weekly trip to Ikea...How did this happen? I'll tell you how!
We were here for only a week before Larry had to start work. So when he went off to Sydney for orientation, I got busy. One of my tasks while he was away was to start looking for work. I knew about careers.com.au. I sent my resume to a recruiter for a position as a workers' compensation case manager for an insurance company and wouldn't you know that 20 minutes later she called me and I was in for an interview two days later. Well, that's not the job that I got, but it set some expectations regarding response times and was really quite indicative of the lack of qualified candidates for all of the work that is going on in this capital city.
A few days later I was shopping for sheets, comforter and duvet cover near our house. On the advice of the gal waiting on me at the bedding store, I found seek.com.au. After looking for about 10 minutes, I found a job for a Legal Case Manager. I remember this was a Thursday. I had a haircut appointment at 2:30 and I sent my resume for this position before I went to the salon. While I was waiting for the shampoo boy, my cell phone rang. It was a person calling to set up an interview for me for the Legal Case Manager position. Score! Two in a row!
The day before my interview I prepared and researched and read cases to get ready so the people I would be speaking with would actually think that I had a clue about being legal and managing cases. Never mind that I had successfully managed roughly 450 cases at a time at my last job. There was just something fascinating about the work that they did and my research. It was refreshing for me to stretch my brain like this. At this point I had not really gotten used to being Ms. Leisure so I think my brain was overreacting to the intellectual stimuli.
In any event, the interview went great. I got called back for a second interview about two weeks later. My second interview lasted less time than the 6 block walk from our cottage to the office. I was one of several candidates and would get an answer in another week. Well, that Friday happened to be the start of the Perth Fashion Festival. I got to be in attendance at the Every Body Counts cocktail party and fashion show. During the champagne and nibbles event my cell phone rang (mind you it was around 4:30 on a Friday afternoon - who works then?). It was not so good news - I didn't get the Legal Case Manager position because I am not licensed to practise law, but I must have left a positive impression on them as they wanted to know whether I would accept a position as a regular case manager. The salary was a bit lower, but they had to know so that they could get the funding approved to create the position. I was ecstatic and said yes. I found out that I would hear about the position in about a week. This is all under the din of the Carilon CIty Food Court where the cocktail party was going on. In fact, after I hung up with them I returned to the party to end up brushing up quite literally with Jerry Hall who happens to be on an extended stay in Perth while performing in The Graduate.
So for the past two weeks I have not known whether I was going to work or not. After not hearing from them for a week, I decided to start looking again. I had hope that this quasi governmental agency would come up with the funding, but some people say WA means Wait Awhile which is not really what I wanted to do. Plus, it seemed that any job to which I applied I got a call on 15 minutes after I sent in my resume so it should be a snap right? WRONG! One Monday I sent out my resume at least 8 times and some of them for legal assistant/paralegal positions and in fact got rejected within 24 hours! What?!?!?!?!? After two days of huntng and not getting the instantaneous response to which I was accustomed I was starting to get downtrodden. Everyone should have some sympathy for Larry having to deal with the "why haven't they called me yet?" and the "what is taking so long?" and the "why doesn't anyone want to hire me?" Thank God (and Buddah, Allah and the rest) that he has a degree in psychology!
So last Friday I ran errands literally all over Perth. It felt like I went from one end of town to the next. I was walking down Roberts Road (a pretty heavy traffic area, especially on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend) when I got the call from the CEO. I got the job and was to start on Tuesday at 10:00. I was so excited that I went right to this one boutique that I really like and bought myself a new dress for my first week (our container and thus the bulk of my professional clothing has not yet arrived yet). My second stop was to buy a bottle of champagne!
You might be asking yourself what I am going to be doing. Since I will working for the Medical Board of Western Australia which is actually soon to be no more and I have to sign a confidentiality agreement on Tuesday, I am not so sure exactly how much I can share publically. I don't want to make waves before I even start. I will tell you my job in general terms. When someone makes a complaint about a doctor's conduct I will be the one performing the investigation and making recommendations about what should be done to the committee who determines the fate of the doctor. The standard here is not a negligence standard as in a tort action, but maintain standards of professional conduct. The job is an absolutely perfect match for me and I am thrilled. I start on 28 September, right after we celebrate the Queen's Birthday. We are heading to Kings Park for a picnic with some friends.
While I am excited about starting my work, I am going to miss some aspects of not working. I will not miss having to get up and be somewhere at a certain time. I really enjoyed the freedom of no time constraints and deadlines except those that were self imposed and thus readily changeable. What I am looking forward to is the intellectual stimulation and the social interaction that naturally arise from being employed. After some time I will give you an update as to how things are going, but for now it is time to head out to the park and enjoy the last few hours of freedom.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Adios Poblano
Today I decided to test a theory - the theory of Red Sox Nation. Since moving to Perth over a month ago, we've run into only one other American. The story is rather random. Larry and I headed out for a night on the town. We had tickets to see a fashion show comprised of different Western Australian designers that was part of the Perth Fashion Festival. We had drinks in the sophisticatedly decorated Fashion Bar, saw the show and then walked to The George to have dinner. We settled in at our table and the waitress walked up and asked us if we would prefer still, sparkling or tap water. After she left the table, Larry came to the realisation that she had an American accent, or at least a non-Australian/British Caucasian accent. When she returned to the table I asked her if she was from North America. It turned out that she was from Alabama studying for her masters degree in marketing at the University of Western Australia! Since then, I've been on a hunt for more of us.
Evidently there are allegedly around 5,000 Americans living in the Perth metropolitan area. In fact, I am a member of a Meet Up group of American ex-pats in Perth, but apparently the group seems to have gone defunct. I was determined to find more and thought I had figured out how to do it. I had some errands to run in town this afternoon, so I did what any other red blooded American would do before heading out to do errands - I donned my Red Sox hat! I knew that if I was seen by another American at the very least, the resultant surprised glance of seeing a MLB garment in lieu of an AFL garment would be enough to tip me off that I might be in the presence of another State-sider. Off I went on my errands and to my chagrin, not so much as a knowing glance by a passer by. Slightly disappointed, I headed into the back garden since it was nice enough today to start the third of the Millenium series, The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, that I have been hungrily gobbling up for the past two weeks.
The absence of my fellow Americans is not the only thing missing here. No, I'm not going to talk any more about Tide, but produce, specifically the poblano pepper. Larry and I are making it a habit to attend the Subiaco Farmer's Market here in Subiaco on Saturday mornings. The Market is chock full of different produce vendors (my favourite is the organic market), bakers, spice vendors, eggs, olive oil producers, flowers and the like. In fact the last time we were there we got crapes for breakfast that were just fabulous. Here are some pictures of our last trip to the Farmer's Market.
Larry and the booth that sells crepes.
A view of the stalls.
Us with our loot, including the 2 litre jug of olive oil!
One vendor there has a farm where they raise free range pigs. These pigs are quite large and have course black fur (there were pictures). Apparently the theory is that the pigs are free to roam about and are happier so their meat tastes better - don't laugh because it does. The bacon from this place rivals any bacon you have ever bitten into in the States, hands down. On this particular day, we brought home spicy chorizo as well.
By now you may be asking how this relates to the poblano pepper. The other day I looked up a recipe to use for the chorizo. I found on Epicurious.com a recipe for chorizo, poblano and yam fajitas. It just so happened that I had sweet potatoes that I had also purchased at the Market so it was a perfect recipe for our Sunday dinner, or so I thought.
Larry has one of the most difficult tasks in the world - dealing with my obsessive compulsive disorder. We went to about 4 different produce stands and 3 grocery stores to try and find two poblano peppers for this recipe. Finally, at the last grocery store, the one closest to our house, I asked the fellow stacking apples whether they ever get poblano peppers. He looked at me as if I had just informed him that a UFO had landed in the dairy department. Apparently poblano peppers do not exist in Perth. They will be missed. I ended up using a green bell pepper (known here as capsicum) and a few jalapenos and the recipe turned out great.
Trust me, though, things are not bad here and not everything has to be compromised like my fajita recipe. We just happen to have trade offs. Instead of poblano peppers, we have Peri Peri chicken and pizzas topped with creative items such as garlic prawns, roasted red capsicum and peanut satay sauce; things never heard of in the States, at least in the Tampa metropolitan area. One of the biggest adjustments I have had to make (and am still making) is looking at everything WA does have instead of focusing on things that I perceive as missing. It is the metamorphosis from "how do these people make a salad without hearts of palm?" to "what selections from this antipasto bar will make my salad delicious?"
While I am hitting my stride in my "Lady of Leisure" status, doing things such as taking daily naps, reading lots of books (can't stand the thought of finishing the last Stieg Larsson novel) and getting to the store while everyone else is at work, I think I will do much better and not nit pick all of the small stuff once I get a job. Anyone know of a company in Perth looking to hire?
Evidently there are allegedly around 5,000 Americans living in the Perth metropolitan area. In fact, I am a member of a Meet Up group of American ex-pats in Perth, but apparently the group seems to have gone defunct. I was determined to find more and thought I had figured out how to do it. I had some errands to run in town this afternoon, so I did what any other red blooded American would do before heading out to do errands - I donned my Red Sox hat! I knew that if I was seen by another American at the very least, the resultant surprised glance of seeing a MLB garment in lieu of an AFL garment would be enough to tip me off that I might be in the presence of another State-sider. Off I went on my errands and to my chagrin, not so much as a knowing glance by a passer by. Slightly disappointed, I headed into the back garden since it was nice enough today to start the third of the Millenium series, The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, that I have been hungrily gobbling up for the past two weeks.
The absence of my fellow Americans is not the only thing missing here. No, I'm not going to talk any more about Tide, but produce, specifically the poblano pepper. Larry and I are making it a habit to attend the Subiaco Farmer's Market here in Subiaco on Saturday mornings. The Market is chock full of different produce vendors (my favourite is the organic market), bakers, spice vendors, eggs, olive oil producers, flowers and the like. In fact the last time we were there we got crapes for breakfast that were just fabulous. Here are some pictures of our last trip to the Farmer's Market.
Larry and the booth that sells crepes.
A view of the stalls.
Us with our loot, including the 2 litre jug of olive oil!
One vendor there has a farm where they raise free range pigs. These pigs are quite large and have course black fur (there were pictures). Apparently the theory is that the pigs are free to roam about and are happier so their meat tastes better - don't laugh because it does. The bacon from this place rivals any bacon you have ever bitten into in the States, hands down. On this particular day, we brought home spicy chorizo as well.
By now you may be asking how this relates to the poblano pepper. The other day I looked up a recipe to use for the chorizo. I found on Epicurious.com a recipe for chorizo, poblano and yam fajitas. It just so happened that I had sweet potatoes that I had also purchased at the Market so it was a perfect recipe for our Sunday dinner, or so I thought.
Larry has one of the most difficult tasks in the world - dealing with my obsessive compulsive disorder. We went to about 4 different produce stands and 3 grocery stores to try and find two poblano peppers for this recipe. Finally, at the last grocery store, the one closest to our house, I asked the fellow stacking apples whether they ever get poblano peppers. He looked at me as if I had just informed him that a UFO had landed in the dairy department. Apparently poblano peppers do not exist in Perth. They will be missed. I ended up using a green bell pepper (known here as capsicum) and a few jalapenos and the recipe turned out great.
Trust me, though, things are not bad here and not everything has to be compromised like my fajita recipe. We just happen to have trade offs. Instead of poblano peppers, we have Peri Peri chicken and pizzas topped with creative items such as garlic prawns, roasted red capsicum and peanut satay sauce; things never heard of in the States, at least in the Tampa metropolitan area. One of the biggest adjustments I have had to make (and am still making) is looking at everything WA does have instead of focusing on things that I perceive as missing. It is the metamorphosis from "how do these people make a salad without hearts of palm?" to "what selections from this antipasto bar will make my salad delicious?"
While I am hitting my stride in my "Lady of Leisure" status, doing things such as taking daily naps, reading lots of books (can't stand the thought of finishing the last Stieg Larsson novel) and getting to the store while everyone else is at work, I think I will do much better and not nit pick all of the small stuff once I get a job. Anyone know of a company in Perth looking to hire?
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
In Like Flynn
We've been in our new cottage for one week now. While it is new to us, it is not really new. In fact, it is probably over 100 years old. We have three rooms: bedroom, office and a kitchen/lounge combination. For a place this size we have lots of storage and a beautiful courtyard with a mature lemon tree. Our place is cozy, but the location is second to none. We are three blocks from 2 grocery stores, 2 bakeries, a wine shop and a mile long road full of shops and restaurants. Almost everything you would need is within walking distance. Larry's office is moving to downtown next week and he will be able to have a pleasant 30 minute walk to work, or a 15 minute bus ride. From the locals I've heard that Subiaco, the name of our suburb pronounced sue-bee-AH-co, is quiet in the evenings, but the one night that we walked to dinner there were plenty of people around for our liking. I think the person I was talking to was referring to the night club scene to which I reply, been there, done that. In my ripe old age of 36 I find that a nice dinner out followed by a simple stroll can really elevate the soul.
Some pictures of the empty house:
The front of our place. It is a duplex with one common wall.
This is the back courtyard area. We are really looking forward to spending more time out there when the weather warms up. It warmed up a little bit over the past weekend, just enough to tease us, but now the temperatures are back into the teens and single digits at night. A humorous aside related to weather; the Australian Broadcast Channel (ABC) does national news and weather. I was watching the weather forecast one night and the weatherman actually said, "and for those of you who care, the barometric pressure is ...." That made me laugh out loud, but perhaps you had to be there to see it.
This is the kitchen/lounge area. Lounge translated into American English is living room. If it looks quite empty to you, that's because it is. The furniture should start rolling in perhaps as early as tonight. It will be really great to have before and after pictures. I won't bore you with pictures of the front room and our bedroom. They are pretty non-descript especially since they are empty.
While the saying "in like Flynn" would connote that the transition was smooth, we have faced some challenges as well. I hate to label these things as challenges because in the grand scheme of life they are just slight nuisances. As one of my mom's friends used to say, a pebble in the sneaker of life."
Challenge 1: Buying furniture.
Furnishing a home from scratch is not easy, especially if you are as spatially challenged as I am. Thank goodness that with the help of my super designer friend, Brynne, we took the first steps of ordering bar stools and a couch. Originally, we thought we would get all the furniture for the lounge in one fell swoop. This fantasy lasted about 15 minutes as we wandered around the furniture store trying to figure out whether each piece would fit in our space and whether it would match. Furniture is not cheap here and since we didn't want to make a mistake we decided to start baby stepping.
After we get the stools and couch we can decide whether the next piece will fit and so on and so forth. While this will mean that getting settled might take a little bit longer, it will mean that we hopefully will not make any big, expensive mistakes.
Another lesson I learned is that buying major furniture is like buying a car. Apparently there is a large mark up on the price and store keepers are willing to negotiate a deal. I found a bed, for example at one store. The sales person told me that the bed was on sale for one price, but he could do a little better and wrote another price down on a card for me. I thought this interesting so a few hours after I got home, I called him back, told him I wanted the mattress, but my husband thought it was too expensive. I asked him if he could do any better and he took another $80 off the price!! While I didn't get that particular bed, I did end up getting a bed that retailed for $4,999.00 for $2,300. The bonus was the delivery. They told me between 2 and 4 PM and actually showed up at 3:30!! Given the reputation of Western Australians for having their own time table, I was impressed.
Challenge 2: Home Wares.
If you've been following the blog you know that much of what we packed up in the container to send over here was supplies for the kitchen, homewares, glasses, dishes, pots and pans. We learned about a week ago, that our container has not even left the US yet and is not due to arrive in Perth until October 20 after which it must have the customs inspection that can take up to 14 days. Basically, I should have all of my kitchen gear in time to make Thanksgiving dinner (forget the fact that if I am working by then I will have to use a slow cooker for the turkey since I will have to work that day - no Thanksgiving celebration here). As a result, I have had to do things like buy a couple of pans, replace the dishes, glasses and cutlery and purchase a few other cooking implements. Oh darn (sarcasm added).
Having my new kitchen implements has actually been a bright spot as I can now investigate the local cuisine and start to use some early fruit of the bumper crop off our lemon tree. I've made some great dishes with our lemons, including a pasta with broccoli in lemon sauce with pancetta croutons (almost burnt down the house because we had no idea how to operate the ventilation hood - smoke EVERYWHERE!) and moroccan chicken with lemons and green olives. For the recipes, just search on Epicurious.
The first lemon from the lemon tree out back!!
Challenge 3: Cleaners.
We got the keys to the cottage about 3 days before we actually made the transfer from our temporary place. During that time, I wanted to clean the apartment. I went to the grocery store to pick up my cleaners and guess what? None of them are the same as any cleaner that you might get in the US. My bad, I was able to get Windex. Think about a world without Tide, Lysol and Scrubbing Bubbles! Instead, I have Pine Cleen (sic), Shower Sparkle and Morning Fresh. Picking out the cleaners was a bit of a crap shoot, but what's the worst that can happen? (Shower Sparkle is a bit asphixiating, so that might not get back on the shopping list) Dealing with this perceived challenge has actually caused me to change my attitude a bit. Instead of lamenting over the loss of Tide Total Care Clean Cotton, I get the opportunity and adventure of trying an entire new range of detergents and products. Keeping focused on new experiences, both positive and negative - in the case of Shower Sparkle, is helping me to survive a bit of the culture shock. While you might think that given the fact that Australia is an English speaking country our cultural values would be similar, but in fact the differences would truly surprise you.
Some pictures of the empty house:
The front of our place. It is a duplex with one common wall.
This is the back courtyard area. We are really looking forward to spending more time out there when the weather warms up. It warmed up a little bit over the past weekend, just enough to tease us, but now the temperatures are back into the teens and single digits at night. A humorous aside related to weather; the Australian Broadcast Channel (ABC) does national news and weather. I was watching the weather forecast one night and the weatherman actually said, "and for those of you who care, the barometric pressure is ...." That made me laugh out loud, but perhaps you had to be there to see it.
This is the kitchen/lounge area. Lounge translated into American English is living room. If it looks quite empty to you, that's because it is. The furniture should start rolling in perhaps as early as tonight. It will be really great to have before and after pictures. I won't bore you with pictures of the front room and our bedroom. They are pretty non-descript especially since they are empty.
While the saying "in like Flynn" would connote that the transition was smooth, we have faced some challenges as well. I hate to label these things as challenges because in the grand scheme of life they are just slight nuisances. As one of my mom's friends used to say, a pebble in the sneaker of life."
Challenge 1: Buying furniture.
Furnishing a home from scratch is not easy, especially if you are as spatially challenged as I am. Thank goodness that with the help of my super designer friend, Brynne, we took the first steps of ordering bar stools and a couch. Originally, we thought we would get all the furniture for the lounge in one fell swoop. This fantasy lasted about 15 minutes as we wandered around the furniture store trying to figure out whether each piece would fit in our space and whether it would match. Furniture is not cheap here and since we didn't want to make a mistake we decided to start baby stepping.
After we get the stools and couch we can decide whether the next piece will fit and so on and so forth. While this will mean that getting settled might take a little bit longer, it will mean that we hopefully will not make any big, expensive mistakes.
Another lesson I learned is that buying major furniture is like buying a car. Apparently there is a large mark up on the price and store keepers are willing to negotiate a deal. I found a bed, for example at one store. The sales person told me that the bed was on sale for one price, but he could do a little better and wrote another price down on a card for me. I thought this interesting so a few hours after I got home, I called him back, told him I wanted the mattress, but my husband thought it was too expensive. I asked him if he could do any better and he took another $80 off the price!! While I didn't get that particular bed, I did end up getting a bed that retailed for $4,999.00 for $2,300. The bonus was the delivery. They told me between 2 and 4 PM and actually showed up at 3:30!! Given the reputation of Western Australians for having their own time table, I was impressed.
Challenge 2: Home Wares.
If you've been following the blog you know that much of what we packed up in the container to send over here was supplies for the kitchen, homewares, glasses, dishes, pots and pans. We learned about a week ago, that our container has not even left the US yet and is not due to arrive in Perth until October 20 after which it must have the customs inspection that can take up to 14 days. Basically, I should have all of my kitchen gear in time to make Thanksgiving dinner (forget the fact that if I am working by then I will have to use a slow cooker for the turkey since I will have to work that day - no Thanksgiving celebration here). As a result, I have had to do things like buy a couple of pans, replace the dishes, glasses and cutlery and purchase a few other cooking implements. Oh darn (sarcasm added).
Having my new kitchen implements has actually been a bright spot as I can now investigate the local cuisine and start to use some early fruit of the bumper crop off our lemon tree. I've made some great dishes with our lemons, including a pasta with broccoli in lemon sauce with pancetta croutons (almost burnt down the house because we had no idea how to operate the ventilation hood - smoke EVERYWHERE!) and moroccan chicken with lemons and green olives. For the recipes, just search on Epicurious.
The first lemon from the lemon tree out back!!
Challenge 3: Cleaners.
We got the keys to the cottage about 3 days before we actually made the transfer from our temporary place. During that time, I wanted to clean the apartment. I went to the grocery store to pick up my cleaners and guess what? None of them are the same as any cleaner that you might get in the US. My bad, I was able to get Windex. Think about a world without Tide, Lysol and Scrubbing Bubbles! Instead, I have Pine Cleen (sic), Shower Sparkle and Morning Fresh. Picking out the cleaners was a bit of a crap shoot, but what's the worst that can happen? (Shower Sparkle is a bit asphixiating, so that might not get back on the shopping list) Dealing with this perceived challenge has actually caused me to change my attitude a bit. Instead of lamenting over the loss of Tide Total Care Clean Cotton, I get the opportunity and adventure of trying an entire new range of detergents and products. Keeping focused on new experiences, both positive and negative - in the case of Shower Sparkle, is helping me to survive a bit of the culture shock. While you might think that given the fact that Australia is an English speaking country our cultural values would be similar, but in fact the differences would truly surprise you.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Flying Solo
After a weekend running around, it was time for Larry to head over to Sydney for his official orientation. This meant that I would be alone for 2 nights and almost 3 days: mixed blessing. I'm used to Larry's traveling regularly since his line of work normally requires him to fly out on Monday and fly home on Thursday night. So far in our relationship, this has worked out quite well, but I was not too excited to be left alone after only being here for one week! The only thing I was really looking forward to was sleeping in the middle of bed.
First thing was first. I’ve been eating very well since arriving here, so I found a bikram yoga studio. Ten days of unlimited hot yoga torture, only $20. This is not a bad deal since the drop in rate for one class is $18. This kept me active Monday and Tuesday. No friends yet, though since you are asked not to talk in the studio (bikram folks are hard core). At least I was able to get my sweat on.
Tuesday, I spent the morning on line looking for a job. I e-mailed a resume on one position and got a call within 20 minutes. Apparently the job market is a bit more robust here than back in Florida.
Being in a jolly mood, I spent the afternoon checking out the shops in Subiaco, our soon to be new neighborhood. I found lots of things to help feather our new nest: stools, blankets, sheets, coffee pot and wine glasses as the ones we brought didn’t make it through the trip (total tragedy!). I even found a store that stocks Dr. Bronner's liquid soap! When I found it, I almost cried. When so many every day items look different, sometimes it is really comforting to see something that looks familiar. I haven’t shopped for laundry soap yet, but I’m willing to bet they don’t have Tide Total Care. At least I have the Dr. Bronner’s option.
Leederville is a great little neighborhood that has a particularly lively Tuesday night life. After checking in with hubby, I headed out to Kitsch. Tuesday nights they have pad thai and Chang beer for $18.80! That is a pretty great deal considering the beers alone are $7.50. I’m not so much of a beer person, but the Thai beer blended well with the pad thai containing pork, tofu and squid! It was really good, but seriously portion controlled. I could have eaten two. So after dinner, I went over to Dome and got a chocolate chip cookie! This is exactly why I am in need of the hot yoga.
This morning I woke up feeling a bit more adventurous, so I ventured our for a jog. I made it all the way past the Subiaco Oval in 30 minutes which was great for my park walk/part jog. It was cold, but worth it to know I could make it that far that quickly. The Subiaco Oval is really neat looking, too. From the shops out front it appears to be home to both the Perth Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, both AFL teams. Larry and I both have Footy fever! We love watching the games on tv. The physical stamina these guys have is amazing! They take hits without pads that would seriously injure players in other sports where they wear padding. Check it out on ESPN 2 if you have the chance. The premiership is coming up so I’m not sure we’ll have a chance to see a game this season, but definitely next year when we will be within blocks of the stadium. In fact, I believe that the parking signs on our new street indicate no parking on the days when there are Footy games!
After my interview I headed out to Oxford Street. I grabbed a chai and sat in the sun in the park for a bit. I discovered a lovely fish market with lots of new things to try. One item that I have never seen in the states are scallops actually still in the shell! I wonder if you can cook them like mussels or if you need to extract them from the shell first. Sounds like another Google search! I also discovered an Indian grocer that has both take out, dine in and byo, a concept that I love - bring your own wine and the restaurant charges a small corkage fee which is much less on the mark up they normally put on a bottle so it works out well.
I’m now back at home safe and getting ready to fix some dinner. Larry will be home shortly. Tomorrow brings Larry’s first day on his new project, and Friday we sign the lease on the new pad. I’m really excited, and I know Larry is too, that we will be able to enjoy life together like normal people. Larry will enjoy working and living in the same city for the first time in ages and I will enjoy being able to cuddle up with him in the evenings. We seem to be settling in nicely.
First thing was first. I’ve been eating very well since arriving here, so I found a bikram yoga studio. Ten days of unlimited hot yoga torture, only $20. This is not a bad deal since the drop in rate for one class is $18. This kept me active Monday and Tuesday. No friends yet, though since you are asked not to talk in the studio (bikram folks are hard core). At least I was able to get my sweat on.
Tuesday, I spent the morning on line looking for a job. I e-mailed a resume on one position and got a call within 20 minutes. Apparently the job market is a bit more robust here than back in Florida.
Being in a jolly mood, I spent the afternoon checking out the shops in Subiaco, our soon to be new neighborhood. I found lots of things to help feather our new nest: stools, blankets, sheets, coffee pot and wine glasses as the ones we brought didn’t make it through the trip (total tragedy!). I even found a store that stocks Dr. Bronner's liquid soap! When I found it, I almost cried. When so many every day items look different, sometimes it is really comforting to see something that looks familiar. I haven’t shopped for laundry soap yet, but I’m willing to bet they don’t have Tide Total Care. At least I have the Dr. Bronner’s option.
Leederville is a great little neighborhood that has a particularly lively Tuesday night life. After checking in with hubby, I headed out to Kitsch. Tuesday nights they have pad thai and Chang beer for $18.80! That is a pretty great deal considering the beers alone are $7.50. I’m not so much of a beer person, but the Thai beer blended well with the pad thai containing pork, tofu and squid! It was really good, but seriously portion controlled. I could have eaten two. So after dinner, I went over to Dome and got a chocolate chip cookie! This is exactly why I am in need of the hot yoga.
This morning I woke up feeling a bit more adventurous, so I ventured our for a jog. I made it all the way past the Subiaco Oval in 30 minutes which was great for my park walk/part jog. It was cold, but worth it to know I could make it that far that quickly. The Subiaco Oval is really neat looking, too. From the shops out front it appears to be home to both the Perth Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, both AFL teams. Larry and I both have Footy fever! We love watching the games on tv. The physical stamina these guys have is amazing! They take hits without pads that would seriously injure players in other sports where they wear padding. Check it out on ESPN 2 if you have the chance. The premiership is coming up so I’m not sure we’ll have a chance to see a game this season, but definitely next year when we will be within blocks of the stadium. In fact, I believe that the parking signs on our new street indicate no parking on the days when there are Footy games!
After my interview I headed out to Oxford Street. I grabbed a chai and sat in the sun in the park for a bit. I discovered a lovely fish market with lots of new things to try. One item that I have never seen in the states are scallops actually still in the shell! I wonder if you can cook them like mussels or if you need to extract them from the shell first. Sounds like another Google search! I also discovered an Indian grocer that has both take out, dine in and byo, a concept that I love - bring your own wine and the restaurant charges a small corkage fee which is much less on the mark up they normally put on a bottle so it works out well.
I’m now back at home safe and getting ready to fix some dinner. Larry will be home shortly. Tomorrow brings Larry’s first day on his new project, and Friday we sign the lease on the new pad. I’m really excited, and I know Larry is too, that we will be able to enjoy life together like normal people. Larry will enjoy working and living in the same city for the first time in ages and I will enjoy being able to cuddle up with him in the evenings. We seem to be settling in nicely.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
And on the 7th Day, We Rested
As of yesterday, we have been in Perth for 7 action packed days. We’ve checked mostly administrative items off our list as we wanted everything in place before Larry flies off to Sydney next week. Here are the highlights of the week with a few pictures...
Day 2: Time to Get Connected
The groceries here are a trip. At Woolies we bought some cereals and Soy Milky so here is the spread from our first morning...
Another thing that is different is the coffee. At the townhouse, we don’t have a traditional coffee maker. What we had to do was buy coffee bags, similar to a tea bag, but you add hot water and you get a cup of coffee. They are not bad, but we needed an extra caffeine boost so after brekkie we headed out to the Oxford Street Cafe Strip for one long black (two shots of espresso plus hot water) and one flat white (coffee with milk). We enjoyed reading the paper and people watching.
When we were pretty sure that the stores downtown would be open, we headed down to the Murray Street Mall. It is not a mall as we would envision it in the US. It is actually, just about three blocks where they close off the road and there are shops, restaurants and people EVERYWHERE (even on Sunday)! It is quite similar to how I remember the Downtown Crossing area in Boston, except cleaner.
We hit the Telstra store and got hooked up with two new phones. The idea of being able to check Facebook after being “off-line” for 4 days was mind boggling! Plus, Larry had to turn in his laptop before we left so he was very excited to check e-mails and be able to access his work e-mails.
We had lunch at David Jones, the Australian version of Neiman Marcus. The Food Hall there has lots of exotic ingredients. In fact, there is half of an aisle dedicated to American food. What do they have? Aunt Jemima, Crisco, Jif Peanut Butter, Zatarains and Bone Suckin’ Barbecue Sauce. Really? Is that how they see us? Oh, the jar of pumpkin puree (Libby brand) that is normally 0.99 at the grocery store and occasionally buy one get one free is $7.00!! Please send pumpkin puree!
Again, we managed not to starve and actually feast on garlic and scotch steaks. Delicious!
Day 3: Money Money Money
The goal of the day was to verify our bank accounts. This meant, driving into the city, navigating the one way and two way streets and finding a place to park. People that we have spoken with have told us that Perth is a very manageable city and thus far, it has been. Without much problem, we located a parking deck and the bank. The process to verify our account was quite simple but did take a lot of time. We were almost late for our first apartment viewing.
We got to the apartment viewing a bit early and had some time to explore. We thought that we wanted to be in Subiaco, but of course, you never know until you get there. The parts of this suburb that we saw prior to the viewing really piqued our interests. Unfortunately, the apartment was not that great, very old bathroom and quite smelly. Plus, on a lease break, the owner was still getting paid by the prior tenant and was not feeling so generous in reducing the rent ($525 per week!). After the viewing we had more time to explore the area and we knew Subiaco would be for us.
After the apartment viewing, we headed back downtown to JB Hi-Fi (a kind of cross between Best Buy and Radio Shack) and got my MAC Book!! We also got a printer, paper and some pens (so I can write my to-do lists!). We were supposed to be able to get on line with the MAC book and our phones but that did not happen. At least I was able to start writing.
Day 4: Home Sweet Home
Subiaco is a bit of a high rent district, so the apartments available in our price range leave us in a similar situation as the toothpaste aisle - very little selection. After what happened with the other smelly, apartment, I was apprehensive that the small character home that we saw on this date would also be smelly and old or have a water heater occupying an entire closet like another place we saw. But we headed to the viewing and we were surprised to find gorgeous floor boards, adequate closets and patio areas in the front and the back of the house. We made application for the apartment and I am happy to announce that we will be living at 107 Park Street in just a couple of weeks.
This is our tree-lined street:
The house is on the cutest cobble stone street. The car park is around back with ally access. Plus, we are only two blocks off the cafe strip and are within walking distance of Farmer Jack’s (a produce laden grocery store) and a Coles (another grocery store). I will post more pictures of the house and the area once we sign the lease next week.
After all that went down, we decided that we had done enough for the day and we headed out to Scarborough Beach. The sun was shining and the sand was soft and warm. The waves were beyond words and partially beyond pictures. Larry wanted to put his toes in the Indian Ocean.
and I decided to follow
and yes, the water was cold.
Day 5: West Australian Bureaucracy
We had a task for every day and this day was getting driver’s licenses. Since we came from the US, another English speaking country (we could debate about that), we did not have to take any written or practical driving exam - thank goodness! What we did have to do was go to the West Australian Licenses Bureau, their version of the Registry of Motor Vehicles or the Tax Collector’s Office.
We walked up and had to take a number. I thought I would be waiting for a very long time and in fact made a point to bring a book with me, but my number got called before Larry even got his number! We were in and out of there in about 20 minutes with our licenses! We were legal and now more importantly, we could buy a car.
So off we went to Osborne Park, the auto-mall of Perth. We have been going back and forth for about 3 weeks about what car to purchase. Cars are very expensive here. The 2008 X3 that I purchased for $35,000 is $138,000 here (that is not a typo). There is an incredible import tax on most European luxury vehicles so we were not going to be BMW owners any more. We did some research and decided to try a Jeep Wrangler.
We pulled into the Jeep dealer to have a look around. They had a 2008 Wrangler that looked good to us so we decided to have a ride. The car had upgraded sound system and Bluetooth which is important as driving while holding a cell phone is illegal. We gave them a copy of Larry’s license and we got the keys. The truck was large and rumbling, but more importantly, when we took the first left turn out of the dealership the Jeep sloshed as though there were several liters of water in the dashboard!! We had no idea where the sound came from, but that coupled with the rust on the emergency break and driver’s seat made us run, not walk, away from the Jeep.
Day 6: We need a Ride
We had our rental car until the end of the month, so the fact that we hadn’t arranged a vehicle yet was not that bad, but still we wanted to have something in the works before Larry started. We went back to Osborne Park and wandered into Volvo to have a look. We did really well by Premier Motors and we are now proud owners of a S40 sedan! The negotiation process was quite painless and we ended up with an umbrella.
Here is a picture of me with the car guys:
Day 7: Rest
The last week has been exhausting. So now that we had checked off all our to-do items, it was time for a relaxing morning at home. We got the printer set up and actually unpacked some of our bags. I was getting a bit tired of living out of a suitcase. In the afternoon we picked up the car. We only had to sign about 3 times AND, the dealership set us up with some really good insurance, which is not required in Australia.
When we picked up the car, we also got a bottle of wine and a wine cooler!
Here is the new ride!
What we didn’t get was the picture of the rainbow that came out when we picked up the car. The was really pretty, but when we got home, we realized that it had rained on the laundry that we had hung out to dry. Our washing machine is relatively normal sized. Our dryer has an opening the size of a dinner plate. Our new apartment doesn’t even have a dryer!
Being here, you realize how much we take for granted in the US: the discount you get on cars because of the size of the population (I’m not going to disclose what we actually paid for the S40), being able to get a venti sized coffee and having a really big washer and dryer. But our clothes dried, we have coffee bags and I think that I will be just fine without the excess as long as I can have kangaroo and red wine ravioli!
Day 2: Time to Get Connected
The groceries here are a trip. At Woolies we bought some cereals and Soy Milky so here is the spread from our first morning...
Another thing that is different is the coffee. At the townhouse, we don’t have a traditional coffee maker. What we had to do was buy coffee bags, similar to a tea bag, but you add hot water and you get a cup of coffee. They are not bad, but we needed an extra caffeine boost so after brekkie we headed out to the Oxford Street Cafe Strip for one long black (two shots of espresso plus hot water) and one flat white (coffee with milk). We enjoyed reading the paper and people watching.
When we were pretty sure that the stores downtown would be open, we headed down to the Murray Street Mall. It is not a mall as we would envision it in the US. It is actually, just about three blocks where they close off the road and there are shops, restaurants and people EVERYWHERE (even on Sunday)! It is quite similar to how I remember the Downtown Crossing area in Boston, except cleaner.
We hit the Telstra store and got hooked up with two new phones. The idea of being able to check Facebook after being “off-line” for 4 days was mind boggling! Plus, Larry had to turn in his laptop before we left so he was very excited to check e-mails and be able to access his work e-mails.
We had lunch at David Jones, the Australian version of Neiman Marcus. The Food Hall there has lots of exotic ingredients. In fact, there is half of an aisle dedicated to American food. What do they have? Aunt Jemima, Crisco, Jif Peanut Butter, Zatarains and Bone Suckin’ Barbecue Sauce. Really? Is that how they see us? Oh, the jar of pumpkin puree (Libby brand) that is normally 0.99 at the grocery store and occasionally buy one get one free is $7.00!! Please send pumpkin puree!
Again, we managed not to starve and actually feast on garlic and scotch steaks. Delicious!
Day 3: Money Money Money
The goal of the day was to verify our bank accounts. This meant, driving into the city, navigating the one way and two way streets and finding a place to park. People that we have spoken with have told us that Perth is a very manageable city and thus far, it has been. Without much problem, we located a parking deck and the bank. The process to verify our account was quite simple but did take a lot of time. We were almost late for our first apartment viewing.
We got to the apartment viewing a bit early and had some time to explore. We thought that we wanted to be in Subiaco, but of course, you never know until you get there. The parts of this suburb that we saw prior to the viewing really piqued our interests. Unfortunately, the apartment was not that great, very old bathroom and quite smelly. Plus, on a lease break, the owner was still getting paid by the prior tenant and was not feeling so generous in reducing the rent ($525 per week!). After the viewing we had more time to explore the area and we knew Subiaco would be for us.
After the apartment viewing, we headed back downtown to JB Hi-Fi (a kind of cross between Best Buy and Radio Shack) and got my MAC Book!! We also got a printer, paper and some pens (so I can write my to-do lists!). We were supposed to be able to get on line with the MAC book and our phones but that did not happen. At least I was able to start writing.
Day 4: Home Sweet Home
Subiaco is a bit of a high rent district, so the apartments available in our price range leave us in a similar situation as the toothpaste aisle - very little selection. After what happened with the other smelly, apartment, I was apprehensive that the small character home that we saw on this date would also be smelly and old or have a water heater occupying an entire closet like another place we saw. But we headed to the viewing and we were surprised to find gorgeous floor boards, adequate closets and patio areas in the front and the back of the house. We made application for the apartment and I am happy to announce that we will be living at 107 Park Street in just a couple of weeks.
This is our tree-lined street:
The house is on the cutest cobble stone street. The car park is around back with ally access. Plus, we are only two blocks off the cafe strip and are within walking distance of Farmer Jack’s (a produce laden grocery store) and a Coles (another grocery store). I will post more pictures of the house and the area once we sign the lease next week.
After all that went down, we decided that we had done enough for the day and we headed out to Scarborough Beach. The sun was shining and the sand was soft and warm. The waves were beyond words and partially beyond pictures. Larry wanted to put his toes in the Indian Ocean.
and I decided to follow
and yes, the water was cold.
Day 5: West Australian Bureaucracy
We had a task for every day and this day was getting driver’s licenses. Since we came from the US, another English speaking country (we could debate about that), we did not have to take any written or practical driving exam - thank goodness! What we did have to do was go to the West Australian Licenses Bureau, their version of the Registry of Motor Vehicles or the Tax Collector’s Office.
We walked up and had to take a number. I thought I would be waiting for a very long time and in fact made a point to bring a book with me, but my number got called before Larry even got his number! We were in and out of there in about 20 minutes with our licenses! We were legal and now more importantly, we could buy a car.
So off we went to Osborne Park, the auto-mall of Perth. We have been going back and forth for about 3 weeks about what car to purchase. Cars are very expensive here. The 2008 X3 that I purchased for $35,000 is $138,000 here (that is not a typo). There is an incredible import tax on most European luxury vehicles so we were not going to be BMW owners any more. We did some research and decided to try a Jeep Wrangler.
We pulled into the Jeep dealer to have a look around. They had a 2008 Wrangler that looked good to us so we decided to have a ride. The car had upgraded sound system and Bluetooth which is important as driving while holding a cell phone is illegal. We gave them a copy of Larry’s license and we got the keys. The truck was large and rumbling, but more importantly, when we took the first left turn out of the dealership the Jeep sloshed as though there were several liters of water in the dashboard!! We had no idea where the sound came from, but that coupled with the rust on the emergency break and driver’s seat made us run, not walk, away from the Jeep.
Day 6: We need a Ride
We had our rental car until the end of the month, so the fact that we hadn’t arranged a vehicle yet was not that bad, but still we wanted to have something in the works before Larry started. We went back to Osborne Park and wandered into Volvo to have a look. We did really well by Premier Motors and we are now proud owners of a S40 sedan! The negotiation process was quite painless and we ended up with an umbrella.
Here is a picture of me with the car guys:
Day 7: Rest
The last week has been exhausting. So now that we had checked off all our to-do items, it was time for a relaxing morning at home. We got the printer set up and actually unpacked some of our bags. I was getting a bit tired of living out of a suitcase. In the afternoon we picked up the car. We only had to sign about 3 times AND, the dealership set us up with some really good insurance, which is not required in Australia.
When we picked up the car, we also got a bottle of wine and a wine cooler!
Here is the new ride!
What we didn’t get was the picture of the rainbow that came out when we picked up the car. The was really pretty, but when we got home, we realized that it had rained on the laundry that we had hung out to dry. Our washing machine is relatively normal sized. Our dryer has an opening the size of a dinner plate. Our new apartment doesn’t even have a dryer!
Being here, you realize how much we take for granted in the US: the discount you get on cars because of the size of the population (I’m not going to disclose what we actually paid for the S40), being able to get a venti sized coffee and having a really big washer and dryer. But our clothes dried, we have coffee bags and I think that I will be just fine without the excess as long as I can have kangaroo and red wine ravioli!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Perth: Day 1
Since we landed in Perth around 1:00PM I feel entitled to say that it was our first day.
I would write about the mile walk to pick up the rental car (well it seemed like a mile with 8 pieces of luggage which at this point were unbearable heavy), providing humor to the Australians when our Smarte Cart derailed sending large duffels flying in front of the cafe, getting lost whilst leaving the airport, Larry driving on the left side of the road in our Hyundai i3 loaded down with unbearably heavy luggage and our first meeting with our landlord, Matt Smith, but I had such a horrible, throbbing sinus headache that I might like to forget those two hour of my life (the plane air dried me out badly).
Our Leederville townhouse was smashing! Tidy, clean and bright. After the sudafed and aleve kicked in, we freshened up (showering never felt so good) and headed out to get some groceries and explore the suburb of Mt. Hawthorn. Just a few blocks from our pad, we probably could walk it if is wasn't freezing here - oh yes...I forgot to mention that it is still the dead of winter here. We have literally gone from 98 degree weather to 19 degree highs - you can do the fahrenheit to celsius conversion.
Driving was the biggest challenge of the day. It was my first time ever driving on the left side of the road. The biggest challenge is that you have a large amount of automobile on the left side that is not normally there from a spacial sense. Driving passed parked cars and actually keeping in your lane are quite hard at first as one tends to drift the left in order to avoid the anticipated head on collision that seems eminent when another car is coming at you. When I drove into Mt. Hawthorn I was most thankful for left turns and traffic lights so I didn’t have to think about the direction of oncoming traffic.
We arrived at The Mezz, a practical shopping center, about 40 minutes before everything closed. The trading hours as they call the shop hours here in Perth are not as accommodating as those in the US. When we arrived at the butcher counter, the clerks were taking the tickets off all the trays of meat. I managed to get my hands on two rosemary and mint lamb chops. Woolworth's (or Woolies as they affectionately call it), the grocery store, closed at 5. We were only half way through the store when the clerk came over the loud speaker announcing the closing. My question is what do people who work do? Not eat? At least the pharmacy was open until 5:30 so we had time to grab tissues (2 options) and toothpaste (Colgate or Aim) and a bath puff ($6AUD). You might think that having this few options would be quite limiting. I find it liberating. No longer will I stand in front of the toothpaste in the aisle at the store for 10 minutes debating whether I want fresh mint or cool mint, tartar control or extra whitening. I like Colgate and that’s what we got.
The bottle shop was a different story. That was open until 7. Light bulb! That must be what people who work do - liquid dinner! There were also lots of options here with very few (less than 5) brands of wine I have seen before. It was a crap shoot, but we picked a Margaret River shiraz (pronounced sheer-AHZ) that turned our to be great.
Matt and Claire Smith, our landlords, left us a gorgeous loaf of bread from New Norcia bakery which is in Mt. Hawthorn. We ran in there for some bread to have with dinner.
So on our first day we managed to land, rent a car, find our house, the grocery store, pharmacy, package store and bakery. We ended up with a fabulous meal followed by some very deep sleep.
I would write about the mile walk to pick up the rental car (well it seemed like a mile with 8 pieces of luggage which at this point were unbearable heavy), providing humor to the Australians when our Smarte Cart derailed sending large duffels flying in front of the cafe, getting lost whilst leaving the airport, Larry driving on the left side of the road in our Hyundai i3 loaded down with unbearably heavy luggage and our first meeting with our landlord, Matt Smith, but I had such a horrible, throbbing sinus headache that I might like to forget those two hour of my life (the plane air dried me out badly).
Our Leederville townhouse was smashing! Tidy, clean and bright. After the sudafed and aleve kicked in, we freshened up (showering never felt so good) and headed out to get some groceries and explore the suburb of Mt. Hawthorn. Just a few blocks from our pad, we probably could walk it if is wasn't freezing here - oh yes...I forgot to mention that it is still the dead of winter here. We have literally gone from 98 degree weather to 19 degree highs - you can do the fahrenheit to celsius conversion.
Driving was the biggest challenge of the day. It was my first time ever driving on the left side of the road. The biggest challenge is that you have a large amount of automobile on the left side that is not normally there from a spacial sense. Driving passed parked cars and actually keeping in your lane are quite hard at first as one tends to drift the left in order to avoid the anticipated head on collision that seems eminent when another car is coming at you. When I drove into Mt. Hawthorn I was most thankful for left turns and traffic lights so I didn’t have to think about the direction of oncoming traffic.
We arrived at The Mezz, a practical shopping center, about 40 minutes before everything closed. The trading hours as they call the shop hours here in Perth are not as accommodating as those in the US. When we arrived at the butcher counter, the clerks were taking the tickets off all the trays of meat. I managed to get my hands on two rosemary and mint lamb chops. Woolworth's (or Woolies as they affectionately call it), the grocery store, closed at 5. We were only half way through the store when the clerk came over the loud speaker announcing the closing. My question is what do people who work do? Not eat? At least the pharmacy was open until 5:30 so we had time to grab tissues (2 options) and toothpaste (Colgate or Aim) and a bath puff ($6AUD). You might think that having this few options would be quite limiting. I find it liberating. No longer will I stand in front of the toothpaste in the aisle at the store for 10 minutes debating whether I want fresh mint or cool mint, tartar control or extra whitening. I like Colgate and that’s what we got.
The bottle shop was a different story. That was open until 7. Light bulb! That must be what people who work do - liquid dinner! There were also lots of options here with very few (less than 5) brands of wine I have seen before. It was a crap shoot, but we picked a Margaret River shiraz (pronounced sheer-AHZ) that turned our to be great.
Matt and Claire Smith, our landlords, left us a gorgeous loaf of bread from New Norcia bakery which is in Mt. Hawthorn. We ran in there for some bread to have with dinner.
So on our first day we managed to land, rent a car, find our house, the grocery store, pharmacy, package store and bakery. We ended up with a fabulous meal followed by some very deep sleep.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Up Up and Away
After arriving in Perth, I must say that our entire three day travel marathon went off without a hitch! Aside from a few tears and a sore bum we could not have asked for smoother travel.
It didn’t quite start that smoothly. Larry had to work on Wednesday, the day we were set to check into the Marriott at the Tampa airport. We still had the final bit of cleaning out to finish. We ended up throwing all of our luggage plug about 3 grocery bags full of other assorted items into our rental car and headed to the airport. After errands at the bank, Brighthouse and the post office, we didn’t actually settle into the room until 9PM. We ordered room service, popped open our celebratory bottle of Vueve Cliquot and set to packing.
The following morning, Larry went downstairs to fetch a Smarte Cart and brought it back to the room. We each had 2 bags to check and 2 carry on bags. We loaded up the Smarte Cart and went to push it out the door of our hotel room, but were dismayed to find that it was too wide to fit! We tried pushing, wiggling and shimmying, but finally we had to unload it, drag all the bags into the hallway and re-load it. I got a bit sentimental as we took off over Tampa and banked right to fly over the beaches. This was just the beginning.
We collected our bags at LAX and managed to get on the shuttle to our hotel where we would spend the day, get a meal, and freshen up before the longest leg of our travels: the flight to Sydney. I had planned to spend some time resting at the pool, soaking up the California sunshine, but what met us in Los Angeles was 65 degrees and cloudy. There was no way I was putting on a bathing suit in 65 degrees. Little did I know what weather would meet us in Perth. We had a relaxing afternoon and even got to meet up with one of Larry’s friends from grad school, Fran Ten, who is soon to be touring with a Japanese rock legend! Sounds like a trip in our future!
It was soon time to schlep all of our 8 bags (3 of which I could actually fit into) back to the airport and get checked into our flight. After making the trip to Sydney last year, I have one thing to say about our flight: THANK GOD FOR EXIT ROW! It was the next best thing to being in business class. The flight attendants served us drinks, fed us dinner and then dimmed the cabin lights for our 14 hour sojourn. Larry was so tired, but was able to wake up long enough to eat dinner and then fell immediately back to sleep. I, unfortunately did not have the same experience. I had planned on taking some melatonin, but it happened to be located in the pants pocket of my sleeping husband. So I dozed off for a bit, woke up, dozed off for a bit and woke up again and started to feel so stiff that I actually got up and did some yoga in this hallway thing on the plane. I started with the Bikram standing series and then a few hours later busted out my sun salutations. Soon it was time to land.
The line through customs in Sydney was worse than waiting for a ride at Disney World. We waited in line at customs (made interesting by being able to watch the colorful flight attendants from the different international air lines. Emirates had red hats with jeanie scarves but the girls looked decidedly Caucasian), waited in line to get our bags, waited in line to leave the baggage claim area, waited in line to get sniffed by the beagle (he was extra excited after finding an apple in the back pack of the group in front of us) and then exited into the terminal where if there had been a red carpet, I would have thought I was entering the Oscars! There were mobs of people with balloons and flowers and all kinds of excitement. Unfortunately, our next destination, the Qantas Domestic Transfer, was upstream of the mob. We were like salmon going home to spawn dodging bear hugs of those greeting loved ones instead of bears.
After waiting in line yet again to check our bags for the flight to Perth, we were treated to a back scenes tour of the airport. When you arrive on an international flight and then get on a Qantas domestic flight, they are nice enough to give you a ride from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. This bus ride drives all around the edges of the tarmac and you get to see the planes up close and personal! We saw some 747s and the A380 which has two rows of windows, like a double decker bus, and can hold some 800 passengers!
After getting off the bus, entering the Qantas domestic terminal was like being in an oasis! First, it was beautiful and clean. There were very nice, high end stores and cafe after cafe after cafe. In fact, they even had a museum! We grabbed some brekkie (Aussie for breakfast) and settled in at the gate for the short wait for our flight to Perth.
The flight time from Sydney to Perth is 4 hours and 40 minutes. It was a bit difficult getting my two bags all the way to row 53, but once there we were treated to seats A and B, window and aisle. The pre-flight instructions were also a bit different. In addition to how to put on your seat belt, flotation device and oxygen mask, we got instructions on the crash position and how to avoid DVT. We also got headphones, a movie and lunch. About 30 minutes after lunch, the flight attendants came through the cabin with ice cream cones! This made me aspire to be a Qantas flight attendant. After lunch, I fell asleep and slept hard. We passed over snowy mountains, farm or station land and ocean.
When we landed, I looked over at Larry and said, “welcome home.”
It didn’t quite start that smoothly. Larry had to work on Wednesday, the day we were set to check into the Marriott at the Tampa airport. We still had the final bit of cleaning out to finish. We ended up throwing all of our luggage plug about 3 grocery bags full of other assorted items into our rental car and headed to the airport. After errands at the bank, Brighthouse and the post office, we didn’t actually settle into the room until 9PM. We ordered room service, popped open our celebratory bottle of Vueve Cliquot and set to packing.
The following morning, Larry went downstairs to fetch a Smarte Cart and brought it back to the room. We each had 2 bags to check and 2 carry on bags. We loaded up the Smarte Cart and went to push it out the door of our hotel room, but were dismayed to find that it was too wide to fit! We tried pushing, wiggling and shimmying, but finally we had to unload it, drag all the bags into the hallway and re-load it. I got a bit sentimental as we took off over Tampa and banked right to fly over the beaches. This was just the beginning.
We collected our bags at LAX and managed to get on the shuttle to our hotel where we would spend the day, get a meal, and freshen up before the longest leg of our travels: the flight to Sydney. I had planned to spend some time resting at the pool, soaking up the California sunshine, but what met us in Los Angeles was 65 degrees and cloudy. There was no way I was putting on a bathing suit in 65 degrees. Little did I know what weather would meet us in Perth. We had a relaxing afternoon and even got to meet up with one of Larry’s friends from grad school, Fran Ten, who is soon to be touring with a Japanese rock legend! Sounds like a trip in our future!
It was soon time to schlep all of our 8 bags (3 of which I could actually fit into) back to the airport and get checked into our flight. After making the trip to Sydney last year, I have one thing to say about our flight: THANK GOD FOR EXIT ROW! It was the next best thing to being in business class. The flight attendants served us drinks, fed us dinner and then dimmed the cabin lights for our 14 hour sojourn. Larry was so tired, but was able to wake up long enough to eat dinner and then fell immediately back to sleep. I, unfortunately did not have the same experience. I had planned on taking some melatonin, but it happened to be located in the pants pocket of my sleeping husband. So I dozed off for a bit, woke up, dozed off for a bit and woke up again and started to feel so stiff that I actually got up and did some yoga in this hallway thing on the plane. I started with the Bikram standing series and then a few hours later busted out my sun salutations. Soon it was time to land.
The line through customs in Sydney was worse than waiting for a ride at Disney World. We waited in line at customs (made interesting by being able to watch the colorful flight attendants from the different international air lines. Emirates had red hats with jeanie scarves but the girls looked decidedly Caucasian), waited in line to get our bags, waited in line to leave the baggage claim area, waited in line to get sniffed by the beagle (he was extra excited after finding an apple in the back pack of the group in front of us) and then exited into the terminal where if there had been a red carpet, I would have thought I was entering the Oscars! There were mobs of people with balloons and flowers and all kinds of excitement. Unfortunately, our next destination, the Qantas Domestic Transfer, was upstream of the mob. We were like salmon going home to spawn dodging bear hugs of those greeting loved ones instead of bears.
After waiting in line yet again to check our bags for the flight to Perth, we were treated to a back scenes tour of the airport. When you arrive on an international flight and then get on a Qantas domestic flight, they are nice enough to give you a ride from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. This bus ride drives all around the edges of the tarmac and you get to see the planes up close and personal! We saw some 747s and the A380 which has two rows of windows, like a double decker bus, and can hold some 800 passengers!
After getting off the bus, entering the Qantas domestic terminal was like being in an oasis! First, it was beautiful and clean. There were very nice, high end stores and cafe after cafe after cafe. In fact, they even had a museum! We grabbed some brekkie (Aussie for breakfast) and settled in at the gate for the short wait for our flight to Perth.
The flight time from Sydney to Perth is 4 hours and 40 minutes. It was a bit difficult getting my two bags all the way to row 53, but once there we were treated to seats A and B, window and aisle. The pre-flight instructions were also a bit different. In addition to how to put on your seat belt, flotation device and oxygen mask, we got instructions on the crash position and how to avoid DVT. We also got headphones, a movie and lunch. About 30 minutes after lunch, the flight attendants came through the cabin with ice cream cones! This made me aspire to be a Qantas flight attendant. After lunch, I fell asleep and slept hard. We passed over snowy mountains, farm or station land and ocean.
When we landed, I looked over at Larry and said, “welcome home.”
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Storm Before the Calm
Last Tuesday the movers came and went. It was all rather anticlimactic. I asked my friend and neighbor Deb to come over around 6:30 when the movers told me they would arrive. Then ended up getting there a bit before 6 and were done by 6:45. Those guys really know how to tape up boxes!! Deb showed up around 6:15 with a very large bottle of wine but missed half of the show.
Then I was left with a house growing emptier by the day. In fact, the night that the movers came, a guy answered a Craig's List ad I placed selling a table and ended up buying two rooms worth of furniture. Craig's List is great, don't get me wrong, but the characters you encounter are priceless. The guy that showed up that Tuesday night came around 10:00 PM and had a U-Haul attached to his SUV. Another sale I made involved two toothless (well, the guy I got a really good look at actually had one large tooth) men carting out my dining room hutch to put into their small Toyota pick up truck.
Then came my 36th birthday. I was in the throws of packing and getting the house ready so we could leave with the assistance of Frank and Jan who stayed from Sunday to Tuesday busting hump to empty the rest of the house, repair every hole I made to hang any picture and to repaint the spackle. I can truly say that I would not have been able to do it without them and even when Larry got home, we almost didn't make it to Tampa Wednesday night.
So a few more words on my birthday. It was one of the most amazing birthdays that I can remember. It started with a phone call from my parents. Every year, they call and sing "Happy Birthday" to me. Unfortunately, it seems that every year, I ended up listening to it on voice mail. This year, I was not working and actually able to answer the phone when they called! They weren't the only ones to call and sing for me. My dear friends Greg and Eduardo Sarnelli called and gave me a barbershop quartet version of "Happy Birthday!" The birthday fun did not stop there...
After running errands for me, Frank and Jan came home with the most decadent chocolate cake. We had lunch of sushi and chocolate cake! Everything was moving along as planned until Jan called up to me from downstairs, "Gayann, I think we have an emergency here..." I went into panic mode thinking that my neighbor's cat who has a habit of entering garages when left open had wandered into the house. I went downstairs to find my very good friend Shellie standing in my living room with her famous lemon cake that she always makes for my birthday. This might not seem special until I tell you that I have not had that lemon cake in about 5 years because Shellie lives in Indialantic, about a 3 hour drive from where Larry and I used to live (sounds odd typing that)!! Shellie took the day off work to drive clear across the state of Florida to see me on my birthday and after about 45 minutes of visiting was on her way back. Tell me that wouldn't make you feel special.
One of the highlights of the day was the gift I received from my sisters, Sally and Suzann. The package arrived some time the week before. I knew when it arrived that I might be home alone on my birthday as Larry was working in St. Louis that Monday, so I decided to wait and open it on my day. It was around lunchtime and I had been so busy running around in the morning that I had not stopped long enough to even think about it, but I saw the package on the shelf and decided it was time. As I write this, I am so sorry that I don't have a picture of the beautiful silver bracelet they sent. In script the bracelet proclaims "Embrace the Journey." When I opened it I about fell out of my chair! This move has brought with it such emotional tumult that it was almost humbling to realize the family support that I have and the love that surrounds me.
This continued into the afternoon when Jan and I went to my last yoga class with my teacher, Mei. She has really been fundamental in my yoga journey, being a regular teacher of mine at least 3 times a week for the last 4 or 5 months. Mei presented to me a journal that had various quotes on the cover about finding yourself, but what was special was the inscription she wrote. The gist of it being that I will always have part of Mei with me and she with me. Thinking about that simple concept brought an awareness to me that I will always carry with me special pieces of my firends and family, and hopefully I have given to them in return special gifts that they will have within them. I was so grateful that day for so many things, one of those being that I actually stopped the inner list making, errand running and house cleaning to actually feel loved, supported and excited for this new chapter.
I know, enough with the existentialism...The move date is upon us!!
Then I was left with a house growing emptier by the day. In fact, the night that the movers came, a guy answered a Craig's List ad I placed selling a table and ended up buying two rooms worth of furniture. Craig's List is great, don't get me wrong, but the characters you encounter are priceless. The guy that showed up that Tuesday night came around 10:00 PM and had a U-Haul attached to his SUV. Another sale I made involved two toothless (well, the guy I got a really good look at actually had one large tooth) men carting out my dining room hutch to put into their small Toyota pick up truck.
Then came my 36th birthday. I was in the throws of packing and getting the house ready so we could leave with the assistance of Frank and Jan who stayed from Sunday to Tuesday busting hump to empty the rest of the house, repair every hole I made to hang any picture and to repaint the spackle. I can truly say that I would not have been able to do it without them and even when Larry got home, we almost didn't make it to Tampa Wednesday night.
So a few more words on my birthday. It was one of the most amazing birthdays that I can remember. It started with a phone call from my parents. Every year, they call and sing "Happy Birthday" to me. Unfortunately, it seems that every year, I ended up listening to it on voice mail. This year, I was not working and actually able to answer the phone when they called! They weren't the only ones to call and sing for me. My dear friends Greg and Eduardo Sarnelli called and gave me a barbershop quartet version of "Happy Birthday!" The birthday fun did not stop there...
After running errands for me, Frank and Jan came home with the most decadent chocolate cake. We had lunch of sushi and chocolate cake! Everything was moving along as planned until Jan called up to me from downstairs, "Gayann, I think we have an emergency here..." I went into panic mode thinking that my neighbor's cat who has a habit of entering garages when left open had wandered into the house. I went downstairs to find my very good friend Shellie standing in my living room with her famous lemon cake that she always makes for my birthday. This might not seem special until I tell you that I have not had that lemon cake in about 5 years because Shellie lives in Indialantic, about a 3 hour drive from where Larry and I used to live (sounds odd typing that)!! Shellie took the day off work to drive clear across the state of Florida to see me on my birthday and after about 45 minutes of visiting was on her way back. Tell me that wouldn't make you feel special.
One of the highlights of the day was the gift I received from my sisters, Sally and Suzann. The package arrived some time the week before. I knew when it arrived that I might be home alone on my birthday as Larry was working in St. Louis that Monday, so I decided to wait and open it on my day. It was around lunchtime and I had been so busy running around in the morning that I had not stopped long enough to even think about it, but I saw the package on the shelf and decided it was time. As I write this, I am so sorry that I don't have a picture of the beautiful silver bracelet they sent. In script the bracelet proclaims "Embrace the Journey." When I opened it I about fell out of my chair! This move has brought with it such emotional tumult that it was almost humbling to realize the family support that I have and the love that surrounds me.
This continued into the afternoon when Jan and I went to my last yoga class with my teacher, Mei. She has really been fundamental in my yoga journey, being a regular teacher of mine at least 3 times a week for the last 4 or 5 months. Mei presented to me a journal that had various quotes on the cover about finding yourself, but what was special was the inscription she wrote. The gist of it being that I will always have part of Mei with me and she with me. Thinking about that simple concept brought an awareness to me that I will always carry with me special pieces of my firends and family, and hopefully I have given to them in return special gifts that they will have within them. I was so grateful that day for so many things, one of those being that I actually stopped the inner list making, errand running and house cleaning to actually feel loved, supported and excited for this new chapter.
I know, enough with the existentialism...The move date is upon us!!
Monday, July 19, 2010
All Packed up and Nowhere to go
My parents have given me many gifts, but this week, I am tremendously thankful to them for the gift of my sense of humor. Growing up in our house, we always used a sense of humor to cope when things were not going quite right. Don't get me wrong, when serious issues arose, they were dealt with in a matter befitting the situation, but I remember there always being some slight humor about even the gravest moments. That is exactly what I needed to get through this past week.
Being a self proclaimed Type A personality, I wage a constant battle within myself to focus on what I can control and what I cannot. The one thing I was unable to control this week was my movers. To preface what happened, Frank, Jan, Larry and I spent the entire day on Saturday packing and we continued into Sunday. Monday I double checked the inventory for each box, made sure it was numbered on all sides and sealed them all. Tuesday I typed up the inventory list so that I could e-mail it to Clarke, our moving coordinator.
Every day I e-mailed Clarke and let him know that we needed to know the approximate time the movers would be here. When Tuesday rolled around, he informed me that the driver should have called and given me a time window. I told him I hadn't heard anything. Well, it gets to be around 8:30 PM and Clarke called me. He let me know that the moving truck broke down in Miami and he was not confident that the movers would come at all on Wednesday. The dispatcher was supposed to get back to him about when they could get to us. Hmmm....broke down? I'm thinking that perhaps they just wanted to spend the night in Miami for some reason that I can't write about because I want my blog to be suitable for young readers. Maybe they just wanted another dinner at some awesome Cuban restaurant on South Beach. I probably would too if all I did all day was bust my hump hauling people's crap.
Instead of screaming at Clarke, which I really wanted to do, but knew it would be unproductive, I gave him a few days to figure it out. Friday came along and we still hadn't heard from him. I wrote him another e-mail about how disappointed we were in the planning of our move, that we appreciated his communication but expected that our invoice would reflect the problems that we experienced with scheduling. Larry answered up the phone when Clarke called about an hour after we sent the e-mail. We all got on speaker phone for this conference call and learned that the movers would now be coming on Tuesday between 1 and 4.
To this I just had to laugh. There was a certain sense of freedom gained from realizing that I control me, not the movers or Clarke or the dispatcher. I could only control me, my actions and my feelings - and I chose to laugh. We might be camping out without our pots, pans and books for a little bit longer once we get into our premanent apartment in Perth, but hey, it will just be an excuse to go out an explore a new restaurant, cafe or book shop. This close to our departure date I need to start keeping things in perspective.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saying Goodbye
There is a serious emotional component to moving and until now, I have been ignoring it, and trying to see if it will go away. Better yet, when it gets my eyes watering, I just suppress it. I'm not so sure that is good for my mental health. Perhaps Larry has some cognitive behavioral therapy for me...
This last week has been one of goodbyes. We are starting to see people for the last time and having to realize that it may be the last time we see these people for quite a long time. You might think that melodramatic, but there is something very real about this emotion.
The first time I felt this feeling was after our visit up north in May to see my family for the last time before we leave. We had a great visit with my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews and even got to see the 6 minute Memorial Day Parade in Littleton, MA.
(yes we brought Gasparilla to Littleton)
On our last day, Larry and I had breakfast with my parents on the way to the airport. After we left them, the impact of the decision to move halfway around the world became patent. While I don't get to see my family in person that often, it is comforting to know that they are only a 3 hour flight away. It was the first time that the move seemed almost scary, but Columbus, great Italian explorer that he was, would never have discovered us had he gotten scared and turned around.
After Many tries we did get a great family picture!
Slowly, but surely we are saying goodbye to other family members and friends. We had a FABULOUS party that our friends Kim and Emil Kovalchik threw for us about a week ago. It was a really fun to get a bunch of our friends together in one place at one time. We reverted back to junior high with the girls talking in one room and the guys in another - it was too funny, especially when our friend John Shields came into the girls room. He got run out of there as fast as you can say tampon! Everyone got along as though we all had been BFFs and I think some new friendships got started that night, so there is another great by-product of our move.
Just this past weekend we had another smashing event, a gathering with the Walker-Gatson Clan. When you are around this group of young families you can feel in the air the amount of love and caring they have for each other. It was so special for Larry and I that they came from literally across the state of Florida to be with us one last time before we leave. They even took the time to make posters of Aussie slang with the American definition, e.g. "Happy as Larry" in Australian English means "Very Happy" in American English; "Icy Pole" = "Popsicle" and hung them around the house! We are definitely going to miss them, especially at Thanksgiving since that is our main event of the year with them. Australians don't celebrate that holiday!
Another family picture!
Balancing our social schedule has been difficult with work and packing demands. The movers are coming soon and we are not completely prepared for that...
This last week has been one of goodbyes. We are starting to see people for the last time and having to realize that it may be the last time we see these people for quite a long time. You might think that melodramatic, but there is something very real about this emotion.
The first time I felt this feeling was after our visit up north in May to see my family for the last time before we leave. We had a great visit with my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews and even got to see the 6 minute Memorial Day Parade in Littleton, MA.
(yes we brought Gasparilla to Littleton)
On our last day, Larry and I had breakfast with my parents on the way to the airport. After we left them, the impact of the decision to move halfway around the world became patent. While I don't get to see my family in person that often, it is comforting to know that they are only a 3 hour flight away. It was the first time that the move seemed almost scary, but Columbus, great Italian explorer that he was, would never have discovered us had he gotten scared and turned around.
After Many tries we did get a great family picture!
Slowly, but surely we are saying goodbye to other family members and friends. We had a FABULOUS party that our friends Kim and Emil Kovalchik threw for us about a week ago. It was a really fun to get a bunch of our friends together in one place at one time. We reverted back to junior high with the girls talking in one room and the guys in another - it was too funny, especially when our friend John Shields came into the girls room. He got run out of there as fast as you can say tampon! Everyone got along as though we all had been BFFs and I think some new friendships got started that night, so there is another great by-product of our move.
Just this past weekend we had another smashing event, a gathering with the Walker-Gatson Clan. When you are around this group of young families you can feel in the air the amount of love and caring they have for each other. It was so special for Larry and I that they came from literally across the state of Florida to be with us one last time before we leave. They even took the time to make posters of Aussie slang with the American definition, e.g. "Happy as Larry" in Australian English means "Very Happy" in American English; "Icy Pole" = "Popsicle" and hung them around the house! We are definitely going to miss them, especially at Thanksgiving since that is our main event of the year with them. Australians don't celebrate that holiday!
Another family picture!
Balancing our social schedule has been difficult with work and packing demands. The movers are coming soon and we are not completely prepared for that...
Sunday, July 11, 2010
You Want Me to Put What in Where for how Much?
It has come time now to commence packing. This is not the easiest task as I will explain. When Larry accepted his position, he received a very generous moving allowance that the company gave us full reign to manage. We bought our tickets, rented our temporary apartment and have used the last of it to pay for our move.
Back when we first found out we were moving, I made an inquiring on a website regarding international moves. After that time, our phone did not stop ringing and I received a few e-mails with quotes. The first real quote I received was to move a one bedroom apartment. The total charge was $6,000 which didn't include this other $750USD THC fee nor the $220AUD customs search fee. Really?
This was the reason that we decided to go with our present mover, Ken Chen from Unity Van Lines (BBB gave them an A- and I don't even want to contemplate the minus). Ken talked to us at length in his Asian/New Jersey accent about the trip our belongings will make (about 2 months), what not to bring in terms of prohibited items, and discouraged me from packing a case of peanut butter since the cargo hold of the ship was not climate controlled. He didn't really laugh when Larry made the joke about the ship being attacked by Somali pirates. Just another factor I am trying to keep out of my mind.
Ken got us all signed up and energized to move in our 5' x 5' x 8' container that is costing $2800, which to me is a bargain because it includes the THC fee. We will still have to pay the Australian customs agents to sort through our belongings with their sniffing beagles, but I am willing to shell out the $220 for the luxury of being able to cook with our All Clad, ride my Specialized bicycle and gaze upon our Julie Keaton Reed watercolor. For the sake of the customs inspection, Ken gave us another tip: do not get boxes from the grocery store and especially not the liquor store because a customs agent looking at that will think you are importing cases of Jack Daniels and will really want to know what is in that box.
The first thing I did was tape out a 5' x 5' x 8' space on the floor in our spare bedroom. I then sat in the 5' x 5' x 8' space and called Larry into the room. "Are we INSANE?!?!" He reassured me that the items that were going into the container were well worth the price and it would be nice to have some reminders of home and a few things to start out with so we didn't have to buy everything all at once. I was calmer after that.
Then I decided that since the move was going to happen mid week with Larry in St. Louis, I didn't want the movers trekking upstairs. We moved around our dining room furniture (which is for sale by the way)and taped out our container in the dining room. For some reason it thankfully looked bigger downstairs.
We started packing but are not quite done yet. On the advice of moving guru Ken, I took my bike to have it professionally cleaned and boxed. Now I have the urge to ride it every day. Soon enough, I will be able to explore the extensive bike trail system between Perth and Freemantle. It is only a 10 mile bike ride to the beach. At least that is if the pirates don't get it.
Here are some pictures of the process:
Larry measuring out the container dimensions.
Two sets of eyes are better than one.
Can you fit all of my tennis clothes into one spacebag?
All this packing is making me tired!
Back when we first found out we were moving, I made an inquiring on a website regarding international moves. After that time, our phone did not stop ringing and I received a few e-mails with quotes. The first real quote I received was to move a one bedroom apartment. The total charge was $6,000 which didn't include this other $750USD THC fee nor the $220AUD customs search fee. Really?
This was the reason that we decided to go with our present mover, Ken Chen from Unity Van Lines (BBB gave them an A- and I don't even want to contemplate the minus). Ken talked to us at length in his Asian/New Jersey accent about the trip our belongings will make (about 2 months), what not to bring in terms of prohibited items, and discouraged me from packing a case of peanut butter since the cargo hold of the ship was not climate controlled. He didn't really laugh when Larry made the joke about the ship being attacked by Somali pirates. Just another factor I am trying to keep out of my mind.
Ken got us all signed up and energized to move in our 5' x 5' x 8' container that is costing $2800, which to me is a bargain because it includes the THC fee. We will still have to pay the Australian customs agents to sort through our belongings with their sniffing beagles, but I am willing to shell out the $220 for the luxury of being able to cook with our All Clad, ride my Specialized bicycle and gaze upon our Julie Keaton Reed watercolor. For the sake of the customs inspection, Ken gave us another tip: do not get boxes from the grocery store and especially not the liquor store because a customs agent looking at that will think you are importing cases of Jack Daniels and will really want to know what is in that box.
The first thing I did was tape out a 5' x 5' x 8' space on the floor in our spare bedroom. I then sat in the 5' x 5' x 8' space and called Larry into the room. "Are we INSANE?!?!" He reassured me that the items that were going into the container were well worth the price and it would be nice to have some reminders of home and a few things to start out with so we didn't have to buy everything all at once. I was calmer after that.
Then I decided that since the move was going to happen mid week with Larry in St. Louis, I didn't want the movers trekking upstairs. We moved around our dining room furniture (which is for sale by the way)and taped out our container in the dining room. For some reason it thankfully looked bigger downstairs.
We started packing but are not quite done yet. On the advice of moving guru Ken, I took my bike to have it professionally cleaned and boxed. Now I have the urge to ride it every day. Soon enough, I will be able to explore the extensive bike trail system between Perth and Freemantle. It is only a 10 mile bike ride to the beach. At least that is if the pirates don't get it.
Here are some pictures of the process:
Larry measuring out the container dimensions.
Two sets of eyes are better than one.
Can you fit all of my tennis clothes into one spacebag?
All this packing is making me tired!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
To Bring or Not to Bring
When you move, you realize that you have accumulated items that you never use yet find it impossible to part with. This was my trouble as we start to plan our packing. What to bring and what not to bring: the question of the day. The second question is how to get rid of these things. We could donate them, but once we saw the sheer volume of stuff we have, we would have to rent a U-Haul just to make the trip to Goodwill. We looked in to having an estate sale, but we didn't have enough to make the 30% commission they wanted worthwhile. The last resort - a yard sale.
Looking at the calendar, our weekends are starting to get numbered, so we had to act relatively quickly. I picked July 3rd for the date. I had a feeling it would be either very busy or no one would show up, but for the peace of mind of getting it done I would take the chance. Not only did I bring Larry along for this ride, but his parents as well. Frank and Jan were great sports about it, came for the weekend and even brought a folding table!
In an effort to get more people to the yard sale, I put an announcement on the Community section of Craig's List. I did this late on the Thursday night before the sale and inadvertently left out the address. Well, I figured people would know that there was a moving sale in Ozona at least. It is a small town...
Friday night after dinner we started going through everything: the closet under the stairs (so full that I called the the "closet of which we will not speak!"), the pantry, the hutch, cabinets, closets - everywhere we store things. We even took some things off the walls! I found things that I had not touched in years, but for some reason felt a twinge of nostalgia. It went something like - oh, here's my pineapple corer. Do they have pineapple in Australia? Maybe we'll use it... Should we keep it? In the pile it went. By the time we went to bed we had covered the entire dining room table and part of the living room floor. This did not include the pile that I had already created in the garage.
The coffee maker went off at 6:00 AM the morning of the sale. We groggily got out of bed to go set everything up. We had the folding table, the dining room table (it is for sale too), the table from the patio and some garage shelves all set up with items. There were also boxes, crates and storage boxes full of things - remember our Christmas lights are not compatible! The four of us got everything set up by 7:30 (Craig's List ad said starting at 8:00). We sat down in our camp chairs to wait for customers.
After two "early birds" who browsed and bought nothing, there were no customers. We sat, sat and sat, took turns eating breakfast, sat and sat some more. The weather was holding off, yet cloudy. The temperature was quite moderate and I enjoyed watching the woodpecker parents come and go from the camphor tree in our front yard feeding the new babies. BUT WE WEREN'T SELLING ANYTHING!!! I kept dreading having to lug all of our stuff back in the house.
At around 9:30 when we had a few trickles, but not much steady business, I finally took a sign down to the main road. I think it was coincidence but after that we seemed to have a few spurts of business. Things even got steady once the sun came out for a spell. Things were selling and we were making a little fun money.
It got to be around noon and as I had ordered mussels for dinner, we needed to go collect them. I sent Larry to the meat market and off he went with his dad to find mussels, bread and fennel root. So Jan and I tended the sale and with a few more customers, amidst the thunder of the ever darker growing sky, and we beat the record of our previous sale (the one where I just opened the garage door and set everything on the ground in the driveway)!! Then the skies opened up and it started to pour!!
It was everything we could do to get all of the items back into the garage. Larry and Frank showed up just after the rain started and we managed to get everything in and dried off no worse for the wear. The funniest thing is that we still had customers after we brought everything inside!! People pulled up, got out of their cars and dogged the raindrops to shimmy between stacks of things on our tiny one car garage!
All in all I consider the day a success. It was hard to see some of the items go, but it will be even more fun to set up our new house once we get to Perth. Now it is time to focus on packing.
Oh, here is what the garage looks like. If you see anything you would like to buy, let me know!!:-)
Looking at the calendar, our weekends are starting to get numbered, so we had to act relatively quickly. I picked July 3rd for the date. I had a feeling it would be either very busy or no one would show up, but for the peace of mind of getting it done I would take the chance. Not only did I bring Larry along for this ride, but his parents as well. Frank and Jan were great sports about it, came for the weekend and even brought a folding table!
In an effort to get more people to the yard sale, I put an announcement on the Community section of Craig's List. I did this late on the Thursday night before the sale and inadvertently left out the address. Well, I figured people would know that there was a moving sale in Ozona at least. It is a small town...
Friday night after dinner we started going through everything: the closet under the stairs (so full that I called the the "closet of which we will not speak!"), the pantry, the hutch, cabinets, closets - everywhere we store things. We even took some things off the walls! I found things that I had not touched in years, but for some reason felt a twinge of nostalgia. It went something like - oh, here's my pineapple corer. Do they have pineapple in Australia? Maybe we'll use it... Should we keep it? In the pile it went. By the time we went to bed we had covered the entire dining room table and part of the living room floor. This did not include the pile that I had already created in the garage.
The coffee maker went off at 6:00 AM the morning of the sale. We groggily got out of bed to go set everything up. We had the folding table, the dining room table (it is for sale too), the table from the patio and some garage shelves all set up with items. There were also boxes, crates and storage boxes full of things - remember our Christmas lights are not compatible! The four of us got everything set up by 7:30 (Craig's List ad said starting at 8:00). We sat down in our camp chairs to wait for customers.
After two "early birds" who browsed and bought nothing, there were no customers. We sat, sat and sat, took turns eating breakfast, sat and sat some more. The weather was holding off, yet cloudy. The temperature was quite moderate and I enjoyed watching the woodpecker parents come and go from the camphor tree in our front yard feeding the new babies. BUT WE WEREN'T SELLING ANYTHING!!! I kept dreading having to lug all of our stuff back in the house.
At around 9:30 when we had a few trickles, but not much steady business, I finally took a sign down to the main road. I think it was coincidence but after that we seemed to have a few spurts of business. Things even got steady once the sun came out for a spell. Things were selling and we were making a little fun money.
It got to be around noon and as I had ordered mussels for dinner, we needed to go collect them. I sent Larry to the meat market and off he went with his dad to find mussels, bread and fennel root. So Jan and I tended the sale and with a few more customers, amidst the thunder of the ever darker growing sky, and we beat the record of our previous sale (the one where I just opened the garage door and set everything on the ground in the driveway)!! Then the skies opened up and it started to pour!!
It was everything we could do to get all of the items back into the garage. Larry and Frank showed up just after the rain started and we managed to get everything in and dried off no worse for the wear. The funniest thing is that we still had customers after we brought everything inside!! People pulled up, got out of their cars and dogged the raindrops to shimmy between stacks of things on our tiny one car garage!
All in all I consider the day a success. It was hard to see some of the items go, but it will be even more fun to set up our new house once we get to Perth. Now it is time to focus on packing.
Oh, here is what the garage looks like. If you see anything you would like to buy, let me know!!:-)
Monday, June 28, 2010
Time to Unplug
At this point, all I can say/scream is AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
I vacillate between sheer excitement for the adventure of the move and the tortuous task of determining what stays and what goes. This has been a month long purge that finally sent me over the edge. The evenings of sorting, trashing, Craig's List ad-ing have taken their toll not to mention that while theoretically I should be slowing down at work I seem to be busier than ever!
Larry has not escaped either. He is working 12+ hour days to finish work on his project. He barely sleeps while he is gone and then every weekend is jam packed with projects! There is virtually no down time!
We needed a break, so Larry and I packed the car and with many thanks to his parents, Frank and Jan, enjoyed a fabulous weekend in Cedar Key, Florida, a drinking village with a fishing problem (on several t-shirts and signs).
Before we left, being the quintessential foodie, I researched restaurants and chose two for our dinners. The first night was at Tony's where they make the world's best clam chowder - no really, they won a big chowder contest and it was the best chowder I have ever had!
I followed that up with a low country boil...
Can you tell I would love to be a food writer?
So after all of the food the night before, Saturday morning we decided to do a bit of kayaking. We rented a tandem and off we went to paddle around the islands that make up Cedar Key.
Here is an action shot of Larry paddling me around so I can take some pictures...
And the kayak Diva in her Jackie Onassis sunglasses...
That night we enjoyed another great dinner at the Island Room and got to see a ridiculously beautiful sunset
It made for great photographic light as evidenced of this picture of my handsome husband
When we planned the trip, I wanted to use the weekend to forget about the fact that we were moving half way around the world. I wanted to make a rule that we were not to mention Perth or talk about the move at all, but that ended up being unnatural. Instead of avoiding the topic, we were able to integrate it into a completely free form weekend free of tasks and to-do lists. We simply enjoyed being: being together, being with nature and being at peace. It was rejuvenating, and God knows I needed it (Buddha, too, Larry, and Mohamed for good measure).
I vacillate between sheer excitement for the adventure of the move and the tortuous task of determining what stays and what goes. This has been a month long purge that finally sent me over the edge. The evenings of sorting, trashing, Craig's List ad-ing have taken their toll not to mention that while theoretically I should be slowing down at work I seem to be busier than ever!
Larry has not escaped either. He is working 12+ hour days to finish work on his project. He barely sleeps while he is gone and then every weekend is jam packed with projects! There is virtually no down time!
We needed a break, so Larry and I packed the car and with many thanks to his parents, Frank and Jan, enjoyed a fabulous weekend in Cedar Key, Florida, a drinking village with a fishing problem (on several t-shirts and signs).
Before we left, being the quintessential foodie, I researched restaurants and chose two for our dinners. The first night was at Tony's where they make the world's best clam chowder - no really, they won a big chowder contest and it was the best chowder I have ever had!
I followed that up with a low country boil...
Can you tell I would love to be a food writer?
So after all of the food the night before, Saturday morning we decided to do a bit of kayaking. We rented a tandem and off we went to paddle around the islands that make up Cedar Key.
Here is an action shot of Larry paddling me around so I can take some pictures...
And the kayak Diva in her Jackie Onassis sunglasses...
That night we enjoyed another great dinner at the Island Room and got to see a ridiculously beautiful sunset
It made for great photographic light as evidenced of this picture of my handsome husband
When we planned the trip, I wanted to use the weekend to forget about the fact that we were moving half way around the world. I wanted to make a rule that we were not to mention Perth or talk about the move at all, but that ended up being unnatural. Instead of avoiding the topic, we were able to integrate it into a completely free form weekend free of tasks and to-do lists. We simply enjoyed being: being together, being with nature and being at peace. It was rejuvenating, and God knows I needed it (Buddha, too, Larry, and Mohamed for good measure).
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Our First Apartment!!
Even before our feet touch Australian soil, we are constantly learning new things about our soon to be home. We have a technical book on the emigration process, another book written by people like us 3 years after being in Australia, and another book that is simply about etiquette and culture (who wants to be considered uncouth?). Larry and I have both spent countless hours researching everything from visa requirements to the local Aveda salon (curly haired girl has to have her hair products).
The most extensive research we have done by far is the different areas of Perth. It seems that every few blocks of Perth is a different suburb and each seems to have its own unique character. Some of the areas we have been targeting:
Subiaco - a trendy upscale mix of modern buildings and classic federation style homes. It seems to be where the yuppies live.
Northbridge - the greatest collection of night spots and pubs. Seems to have a lot going on after the sun goes down.
West Perth - a smallish enclave close to downtown where if your apartment faces the right direction and is at the right height will provide you with an iconic Perth skyline view. It is also the closest to Kings Park, a gigantic park smack dab in the middle of the city.
Highgate - the location of lots of theatres and cultural events.
Leederville - a family friendly suburb with a mix of homes, condos, cafes and parks.
When we set out to rent a place, we looked at the real estate websites there www.domain.com.au and www.realestate.com.au. We throught - wow look how inexpensive the rent is!! Then we realized that the charge a per WEEK. I was not about to make a 6 month or year long committment without actually seeing the location of our apartment. Not to mention, that no one will rent you an apartment in Perth unless you see it first!
We then changed direction and started looking for a furnished and equipped short term rental. We found a gem in Leederville and I am so excited to get there. They supply everything we need when we first arrive with only our suitcases so dishes, cookware and sheets are provided. The villa is close to a large preserve (park) and there are not 1, not 2 but 3 Indian restaurants within walking distance!! We are also close to an internet cafe and a bikram yoga studio and you can probably guess who is excited about what.
#5 Brentham Street, Leederville, WA, Australia - our new home!
Now that we have a home (at least for three weeks), we can start thinking about what we need to bring...
Thursday, June 10, 2010
It is Official
Family know, friends know and now my work knows. Larry and I are moving from the sleepy hamlet of Ozona, Florida to the bustling metropolis of Perth, Australia. I am creating this blog to document our incredible journey and to keep our large group of family and friends apprised of how we are doing during our first year.
Larry and I were recently married, 28 October 2009 to be exact. Larry is among other things such as my husband and my best friend and my personal psychologist, a management consultant for the largest consulting firm in the world. I am about to be an unemployed lawyer. We are 44 and 35 respectively and are about to press control, alt, delete on the life we have here on the west coast of Florida, U.S.A.
We've been to Australia before. In fact we were married in Australia, Katoomba, NSW. Thanks to Susan Muldrock (http://www.sraephotographicart.ifp3.com/) we had a smashing elopement. During our honeymoon, we fell in love with the country and often joked with each other about moving there. In fact, prior to meeting me Larry almost transfered to his company's office in Melbourne. Wouldn't that have altered history! When the opportunity presented itself for Larry to make a growth career move, we jumped at it.
Our big moving date is August 5, or should I write 5 August. After 24 hours in three different planes we will reach Perth in the afternoon on the 7th of August, just in time for a nap before dinner or supper or whatever they call it. As the smallest ethnic group in the Perth metropolitan area it will be interesting to see how we adjust to life there: right hand drive, vegemite and footy are only some of the unique atributes of Australia.
Hopefully this blog will not only keep us connected with our family and friends, but let everyone who reads it find the courage to make that leap, whether it be a move of this magnitude or something much smaller, to actualize their dreams and attain their goals.
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